Key ring



M. BRUNNER KEY RING Filed June 9. 1953 March 5, 1957 United States Patent KEY RING Max Brunner, Chicago, 111. Application June 9, 1953, Serial No. 360,470

1 Claim. or. 70-458) The present invention relates to key rings and more particularly is directed toward an improved key ring which provides a positive key retenti'on means for preventing confusion of the keys mounted thereon.

Key rings, in the well known circular'form, have'been known for centuries. However, the 'prior art devices of whichl am aware held the keys looselyon the ring and" hence permitted the keys to move completelyaround the key ring when the key ring was held loose in thepocket. I-irview' of the fact-that no reliance could be p'lace'don the position of the key on the key ring, it was essential for theuser of the keys .to memorize the shape ofthe key heador the particular configuration of the lock actuating surface of each key. I

While use of the keys on one of the above described key: rings might be accomplished with relative; easeduring; daylight hours or wherever an: adequate amountof light: was provided, there are'fe'w people" who can iden tify keys in the absence of. light by their merelock actuating notches or head shapes. The result of'this has. been, therefore, that the very simplekey of container for keys. is rarely-used? where more than one. or twokeysmust'be carried. 1

By the apparatus of the present invention, all ofz the above objections are overcome by providinga-simple'key" ring which positively prevents any shifting; of. the keys. It is then a simple matter to locate an individual key-by remembering only its position on the ring rather than its particular. shape. Since: location of the. key om the key ring is the determining factor in locatingthe key, it is also contemplated that keys having no large heads thereon may be utilized with. the present key ring. The ahsence ofsuch heads. greatly reduces the. Weightof the keys. and hence provides an extremely practical. key and key ring combination which persons ordinarily adverse to'tlie use of key. rings will readily accept. Y

Itiis therefore an object of the present invention: to provide a simple key ring having abutments secured thereto for preventing the keys thereonfrornshifting their relative position. j

Another object of the present invention is to provid'e a key ring of a simple and inexpensive nature which will permit selection of the desired key through knowledge only of its constant position on the key ring.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a key ring which is readily adapted to keys not provided with the usual enlarged heads.

A feature of the present invention is a provision of a key ring which may be utilized as the handle for a substantially headless key, as well as a carrying means therefor.

Another feature is the provision of a key ring constructed of a single piece of wire and capable of preventing realignment of the keys carried thereby.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel key ring which will combine with substantially headless keys to provide an extremely compact key and key ring combination.

Still other and further objects, will at once become apparent to those skilled in the art through a consideration of the attached drawings in. which several modifications of the presentinvention have been shown by way of illustration only;

On the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of. a key ring constructed according to the present: invention. and having a plurality of keys thereon;

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view taken along the line II-'-II of Figure I;

Figure 3 is a side elevation view of the key ring shown in Figures" 1 and'Z', with one of the keys positioned for use;

Figure 4' shows a modified form of the: key ring of the presenti'nvention;

Figure 5 is a cross" sectibnal view taken along the line V-V of Figure-4'.

Figure 6 shows another modification of. the key ring constructed accordingto'the present invention; and

Figure? shows a; side elevation of the key ring shown inFigure 6 with one of the keys positioned for actuation ofalockr As shown on the'drawihgs:

The keyring shown in'Figures I through 3 comprises a loop of wire like materialg preferably spring steel of a relatively-high quality; This loop, as may be seen from Figure 1, has a polygonak configuration in which all of the sides or thepolygona are formed by overlapping portions ofithe springimaterialwith'.the'exception of a single side. As is shown; in thesefigures. the loop isshown to becons-truct'edwofi a single rpieceoftwirehaving afirst end section: 1}. anda: sccondiendhectioniZ with? an intermediate portion 3 positioned therehetweeu; The end' section 1 of the wire is joined to the-intermediate section 3 by the portions 4, 5,gand..6sof;theswire', while-the end section 2' is irointed: to. the intermediate portion-.- 3- through the sections 7,. 8 and- 9.

A-: plurality 05 keys- Ill are providedhaving heads 11' of. airelatively smallisize. In. view ofi the comparatively small size-either heads? of keys 10 relativeto the heads of. the usual. commercial: key, they-aregenerallytermed headless keys and-Will be referred to as such herein.

Each ofithekeys is provided. with; an. aperture 12 which is of. azdiameten slightly greater than the diameter of. the wirefronrwhichithe:key-ringis constructed. Thus, as may: be-seen-from. a. consideration of Figure 2, the key will. permit asingle. strand-oi the. wire to pass through its aperture 12. and will not permit the' passage ofithe overlapped portions: of. the. key. ring; Thus, keyretaining abutments: 13. andlAare providedby the freeends of.

' the end sections 1 and 2 of thekey ringmaterialt.

. In. order. to place the. keys on the straightbar. portion 3 of. the key ring -the..usual. procedure. familiar to all those who haveiused' prion art keyrings, is utilized. For example, section I of the ring is pried apart from the section 9 and the key is positioned on section 1 by means of its aperture 12. The key is then moved along the wire from portion 1 to portion 4, to portion 5, to portion 6 and from there around the corner to the left hand end of portion 3 as viewed in Figure 1. This procedure is then followed by each successive key until a full complement of keys is provided.

Since a very small head is provided on the keys, a very large number of keys may be placed on the key ring without difiiculty. Thus, while the key ring is not shown to be completely full in Figures 1 and 2, the key ring of the present construction permits a full complement of keys to be positioned on the section 3 such that the abutments 13 and 14 are constantly in contact with the keys. However, it is of course realized that only one or two keys, if desired, may be carried on the key ring of the present invention. In this case, it is contemplated that the end sections 1 and 2 can be bent inwardly to restrict the key-carrying portion 3 and prevent the keys from moving back and forth.

In use of the key ring for unlocking a door or similar article, all of the keys except that key to be utilized, designated 10a in Figure 3, are 'folded back against the key ring. While it is of course possible to pivot all of the keys into a position on one side of the key ring such as shown at 10b of Figure 3, it is desirable to pivot a part of the keys to the left as shown at 10b and the rest of the keys'to the right as shown at 100. The keys may then be gripped by the fingers so that an operating handle formed by the keys 10b, 10c and the key ring is provided for the key 10a.

A further modification of the key ring is shown in Figures 4 and 5 in which the key ring 20 is formedin a rectangular shape. An advantage of the rectangular shape as shown in Figure 4 is that the keys may be folded completely back within the key ring when it is desired that the key ring he carried in the pocket or when a single key is to be utilized in opening a lock.

As shown in Figure 5, the key ring of Figure 4 is not constructed in the form of completely round wire at the points of overlap. By machining the surfaces 20a and 20b flat, the section 3a need not be positioned at an angle to the plane of the ring and further, the width of the ring at the overlapping portions may be reduced. It is of course understood that this construction may be utilized with the various other ring shapes such as for example, that shown in Figure 1.

In this connection it is to be noted that various shapes can be provided for the keyring, including triangular or circular shapes. The rectangular shapes are preferred however, since they permit the keys to be folded backwardly upon the key ring during the use of a single key to a greater extent than such shapes as the triangle. While this is true it is within the concepts of the present invention to use such other shapes even though slightly less convenient than the shapes shown in Figures 1 and 4.

Figures 1 through 4 are somewhat enlarged and it is intended in actual practice that the key ring such as shown in Figure 1 have outer dimensions of the usual key head now sold commercially. Thus through the use of the novel key ring with the substantially headless keys as shown in Figures 1 and 4, the actual key ring with the keys thereon takes up little more space in the users pocket than a single ordinary key would require. This-is an important advantage, since it is desirable in all instances to reduce the volume as well as the weight of the keys and key ring as much as possible so as not to interfere with other articles which are to be carried in the pocket.

Figures 6 and 7 show a third modification of the present invention in which the key ring comprises a ring 21, and a tubular key support 22.

In this modification, the keys 10 are permanently mounted on the key supporting tube 22 which is subsequently peened over at its ends 23 and 24 to retain the keys in position thereon.

The abutments provided by the flanged over ends 23 and 24 positively prevent the keys from moving relative to each other about the key ring 21, and hence it is impossible for the keys to become mixed up or otherwise to change their relative position on the key ring.

As shown in Figure 7, the keys 10b and 10c and ring 21 provide an actuating handle for the key 10a which is being utilized. This handle is effective since the tube 22 is positioned in the apertures 12 in a rather snug manner, thereby providing a direct turning effect between the keys 10b and and the remaining key 10a.

While only three keys are'shown on the tube 22 in Figure 5, it is contemplated that any number of keys may be utilized in this manner. For example, the tube 22 may be sufiiciently long to accommodate 10 or 12 keys with case. In this latter case, however, it may be desirable to substitute a chain for the ring 21 or to dispense with a ring or chain entirely.

It will thus be apparent that Ihave provided a novel key ring construction in which abutments' are provided on the ring to positively prevent keys from indiscriminately moving around the ring. This construction has proved highly advantageous since it permits the use of substantially headless keys and also permits the identification of the desired key in the dark since the keys retain their originally set position on the key ring indefinitely.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be made to the above described structure without departing from the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim as my invention: I

A key ring comprising a loop of material overlappingly wrapped, said loop having a substantially straight intermediate portion at which no overlapping occurs, and a plurality of keys mounted on said intermediate portion, the holes in said keys having a diameter less than the combined diameter of the key ring in its overlapping portion but greater than the diameter of the key ring material of said intermediate portion whereby the keys may bepositioned on said intermediate portion and 'will be prevented from movement away from said intermediate portion by the ends of the overlapping portions of said rmg.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 298,747 Haft May 20, 1884 523,057 Thiery July 17, 1894 603,247 Becker May 3, 1898 731,597 McGill June 23, 1903 1,815,209 Nikonow July 21, 1931 2,493,330 Zimmerman Jan. 3, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 50,126 Germany Dec. 24, 1889 523,887 France Apr. 30, 19 21 

